Abstract

In parent socialization research, it has been suggested that the specific practices parents apply to regulate different domains or areas of adolescents’ lives be examined to add greater specificity to domain-general studies of parenting styles or patterns and to better understand the link between parenting practices and adolescent adjustment. We examined from adolescents’ perspectives the parenting practices their mothers and fathers used when regulating different issues in different areas of adolescents’ lives. We examined 18 issues (e.g., grades, platonic friendship; smoking, fighting with siblings, choice of future career), classified into the moral, conventional, personal, and prudential domains, and multifaceted issues (issues that share features of more than one domain). We also examined whether domain variations in parenting practices are related to adolescents’ social and academic competence; self-esteem; internalizing, externalizing, attention, and total problems. Adolescents between 13 to 18 years of age (N = 182; M = 16.01 years of age; SD = 1.25) were interviewed (50 to 75 min) about the parenting practices their mothers and fathers employ for different issues. Adolescents also completed questionnaires on demographics and on their social and academic competence; self-esteem; internalizing, externalizing, attention, and total problems. Adolescent adjustment associated with some parenting practices (e.g., punishment) were domain-specific (e.g., positive in moral domain but negative in prudential domain). However, certain parenting practices (e.g., verbal hostility, coercion) were related to negative adjustment and others to positive adjustment (e.g., monitoring) irrespective of domains. The present study advances theoretical propositions regarding domain-specificity and domain generality of parenting practices.